Welcome

The title says it all: this blog features physics videos found everywhere on the web: animations, demonstrations, lectures, documentaries.

Please go here if you want to suggest other nice physics videos, and here if I mistakingly infringed your copyrights. If you understand French, you'll find a huge selection of physics videos in French in my other blog Vidéos de Physique.

Wednesday, 28 August 2013

A beaker is placed on top of a cloth, on top of a stool. The cloth is pulled quickly from underneath the beaker, while the beaker remains stationary. The impulse of the net force is made very small by reducing the time over which the cloth acts on the beaker. In other words, the force of the cloth does not act on the beaker long enough to accelerate it, so it does not move.

Saturday, 24 August 2013

A can is placed on top of a metal sheet on a stool. A broom hits the sheet causing it to fly from underneath the can, while the can remains stationary. The impulse of the net force is made very small by reducing the time over which the metal sheet acts on the can. In other words, the force of the sheet does not act on the can long enough to accelerate it, so it does not move.

Friday, 23 August 2013

They electronically switch and amplify signals by harnessing the unique abilities of semiconductor materials. Their invention has transformed the world of electronics and accelerated our entry into the digital age. Behold - the Transistor!

Wednesday, 21 August 2013

A piece of iron is suspended with a copper wire at the height of one pole of a magnet. At first the iron is attracted to the magnet. The iron is then heated with a torch and eventually falls from the magnet. As the iron cools it will again be attracted to the magnet.

Monday, 19 August 2013

Michael Aranda explains the nuts and bolts of Hyperloop, the new magnet-driven, solar-powered transit system proposed by Spacex genius Elon Musk. Learn how Musk answered three vexing questions to create the transportation of the future -- or maybe the transportation of Futurama.

Monday, 12 August 2013

A DC current is sent around a wire loop that is free to rotate. The current causes the loop to feel a torque in the presence of a magnetic field. Switching the current when the loop flips over allows it to continue accelerating, demonstrating the principle of a DC motor and the Lorentz force law.

In July of 2012, physicists found a particle that might be the long-sought Higgs boson. In the intervening months, scientists have worked hard to pin down the identity of this newly-found discovery. In this video, Fermilab's Dr. Don Lincoln describes researcher's current understanding of the particle that might be the Higgs. The evidence is quite strong but the final chapter of this story might well require the return of the Large Hadron Collider to full operations in 2015.

Friday, 9 August 2013

Today on SciShow, Hank brings us a little science history, telling us the tale of the world's first human-made nuclear reactor, which was built by a team of scientists and students led by Enrico Fermi in a converted squash court under a football field in Chicago.

Tuesday, 6 August 2013

We have looked at how a transistor works, the fundamental unit of classical computers, and how a quantum computer works in theory, taking advantage of quantum superposition to hold exponentially more information than classical computers. Now we look at the practical side of making a quantum bit, or qubit. How do you put it in a state where it is stable? How do you read and write information on it? These processes are described for a solid state qubit - a phosphorous atom in a silicon crystal substrate. Both the electron and the nucleus of the phosphorous atom can be used as qubits.